Facing Unknown
by ismokecrackama
Summary: When life takes away all that matter to him, one man will fight in order to die. But sometimes, all it takes is a spark of hope to keep someone going.


**Hey Halo Fanfictionverse.**

**Well, this is my first Halo fic, so hopefully you guys like it. In fact, tell me what you think with a nice review :). Reviews are what keep me motivated to keep cranking out chapters :D**

**Anyways, enjoy the first chapter of Facing Unknown**

Chapter 1:

-_New Alexandria, Reach, UNSC Space, 2516_

Sometimes, one call changes your life. Not in the way you'd expect, like you won the lottery or something. Sometimes, it's completely random. It leads to one thing, which leads to another. I'm fairly sure this is called the butterfly effect.

My story started when I was 21. At the time, I was living in a 2 room apartment with my 5 year old sister in downtown New Alexandria. 3 years earlier, our parents had been walking across the street to get some groceries when a speeding truck hit them both. Within 2 hours, both had died. The entire situation went from bad to worse wen it was revealed that there was serious family debt. One thing led to another, and we ended up moving to our little apartment.

To put it bluntly, that had been a giant clusterfuck of complications even when taking the sheer grief out of the equation. I had to abandon all plans of going to university in order to make enough money to get us by. Fortunately, the anti-UNSC activity had created a need for more heavily armed security. This meant that 4 months ago I ended up getting transferred to the more combat-oriented, dangerous, and most importantly, better paying SWAT team.

At any rate, I got the phone call at about 4 AM on a Saturday morning. I let it ring a couple times, before finally groaning and reaching to the side of my cot to get it before it woke my little sister.

"What." I grunted. At 4 in the morning, politeness wasn't my priority

"Shane." I recognized the caller's British twang, "Its Rick."

I swore under my breath. Rick was the SWAT Commander for my squad. This call meant one of two things. Either I was getting a day off or something big was going down. And considering all of the insurrectionist activity going on, I was betting on the latter.

"Fuck's sake Rick, its 4 in the morning." I knew this wouldn't really get me any pity, but when its that hour... you'll do anything. "It's supposed to be my god damned day off, and-"

"I know." he interrupted "But it's important. Get yourself some chow then come down to the station for quarter to 5."

I sighed. It was always important."Can't you get someone else?"

"Nope, they're all on active duty. Believe me, you were the last one on my list."

I sighed again, louder. "Fine. See you there."

"That's the spirit, mate."

I stared at the phone for a second, before putting it back on its charger. Several choice thoughts crossed my mind involving committing acts that would probably get me locked up. I grunted and got out of bed.

Despite my bitching, I probably would have gone even if there was a replacement. A lot of people disagreed with the UNSC. They weren't perfect, I'll admit, but still. There was something called biting the hand that fed it, and this was exactly what these insurrectionists were doing. Not to mention they were kinda threatening everyone's safety, not to mention me and my sister's, which totally wasn't cool. The extra pay I would get was just a bonus.

My clothes from yesterday were crumpled up in a heap beside my bed. The laundromat was supposed to deliver my laundry today... but it didn't look like I would be able to receive it. Kinda shitty, I suppose, but I'd probably be changing into a uniform when I arrived.

After getting changed, I tiptoed out of my room as quietly as I could, as to not disturb Sarah. Naturally, lady luck just happened to put door stop right where I wouldn't see it. I felt a sharp pain i my toe as it struck the metal doorstop, causing me to hiss a few choice words in annoyance.

I heard a tiny voice from behind me. "Shane?"

_Fuck_. I had woken my sister up.

I sighed and turned around ,walking back into the room. I immediately saw her sitting up in her bed.

"Are you going away?" she asked quietly.

I patted her head reassuringly as I tucked her back in. "Shh. Don't worry, I'll only be gone for a little while. I'll be back not too late, okay?"

She nodded, then snuggled back into her covers. I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. "If the laundry people come and I'm not back, just tell them to come back in a couple hours, okay?" I waited until I saw her nod of acknowledgement, before walking out.

By the time I was out the door, it was 4:25. The station was only a block away, so I stopped at one of those open 24 hours cafes for a coffee and a donut. I'd had better coffee, but it wasn't bad. And the donut made up for it. Boston Creams, still a classic after over 500 years.

I arrived at the station at about 4:40. When I walked in, I could immediately tell that there was something big going down. There were almost 2 dozen SWAT guys like me standing around waiting. All of them were in full combat gear.

One of them turned around to face me. It was Rick. He had his SMG slung casually over his shoulder. He grinned as I walked in.

"Excellent. Shane, you're finally here. Go get yourself ready, you're late. Mind you, the guy who's gonna be briefing us is late too so you're off the hook."

"I thought you said quarter to."

"I did? Well I fucked up. I meant 4:30." He flashed a quick grin. Rick was one of those guys who could cavalierly dismiss their own mistake in a heartbeat. Still, he was a good team leader.

"So do you have any idea what we're doing." I enquired.

Nikolai, a man from out in the country, piped up. "I here it's the spooks that are needing us."

"In a nutshell,"Rick nodded. "The one and only Office of Naval Intelligence has personally requested our aid, so I can guarantee that it'll be at least somewhat interesting."

"Wonderful."

Rick flashed another grin. "Precisely. Now go get geared up, this bloke could get here any minute."

I nodded and went over to the change room. I rummaged around in my locker until I finally found my uniform. Surprisingly, it was neatly folded and washed. I had no idea how it got like this, but who am I to complain. This time, in addition to my regular uniform, I also strapped on some "bulletproof" body armour (I still didn't trust it to really be completely bulletproof). Finally, I grabbed a shotgun off the rack and strapped on my helmet.

By the time I walked out into the atrium, in full gear, everyone was seated around a holo-screen. A man in a black suit regarded me. "Is this everyone?" he asked. I nodded. "Wonderful. Take a seat, if you will." I was more than happy to oblige, sitting down in a chair to the left of Rick.

"Alright gentlemen. This morning we have a small situation. Nothing you boys shouldn't be able to handle, I'm sure." A man's face appeared on the screen. He had lightly tanned skin, short grey hair and a moustache. The spook gesture to the image. "This my friends, is Mister Gregoravich. He is one of our good friends. Also, he happens to be a part of a United Rebel Front splinter cell. Of course, this man's morale compass ensured that we were the ones benefiting from this."

I raised my hand. "You mean he's an informant."

"Precisely." he nodded. "Unfortunately, this cell found out about it, and have taken him hostage." A picture of a woman and 2 children also appeared on screen. "His family as well. They are demanding the release of several prominent URF members in return for the well being of Mister Gregoravich and his family. Naturally we are unable to do so, however us at ONI, we do take care of our own." the images changed to a top down view of what looked to be a downtown apartment and a small manor in the middle of the country. "This is where you come in. His family is being held in what they think is a "safe" house in downtown New Alexandria. The man himself is being held in his country home."

One of the other SWAT members raised his hand. "So we have to save them?"

"You boys are on the ball today. You will be divided into two teams, half retrieving the family, half retrieving Gregoravich himself. Any more questions?"

Nobody raised their hands.

"Good. Then let's begin."

We divided ourselves into 2 teams, Echo and Baker. I was in Echo squad, which Rick was commanding. We were going to the outskirts of the city to find the actual contact, while Baker would pick up is family.

We were all crammed into an armoured van with no air conditioning. There is something about being in a hot van, with no AC that puts you in a bad mood. In this mood, you think things that you wouldn't even tell a shrink. Especially not a shrink. Your thoughts while in this state are just that fucked up.

I was lucky and managed to reach a zone of almost-sleep. Even then, it seemed like forever before my headpiece finally crackled. "We've arrived."

I looked up to see Rick nod. "Mask up boys."

I complied, pulling my gas mask over my face. The rest of the swat team and I exited our warthog. The other team was on the other side of the estate.

"Remember, these guys can probably tap into you're voice feeds, so no names. Call signs only. You boys don't want to be on their hit list." said the spook over the comm.

I groaned audibly. Call signs could be a bitch when your used to calling people by there actual names.

Rick nodded. "You heard the man. Echo squad, sound off, just to make sure you plugs haven't forgotten you stuff."

"Echo 1. Present."

"Echo 2. Ready for orders.

My turn. "Echo 3. Let's make this quick."

"Echo 4. Bored, but alive."

"Echo 5. Ready and waiting."

After the 11th member sounded off, Rick gave a satisfied nod."And me makes 12." he checked his watch briefly, then continued "Alright gents, time to go save this guy's arse."

"Alright Echo team." said the spook "Baker has run into some traffic on the way to their destination, but no reason for you not to begin. Comb that manor, find the package, and report back for extraction."

"Is everything clear?" asked Rick.

"Crystal, sir."

"Joy an' fucking rapture. Move out men."

Keith, aka Echo 1, took point as our squad fanned out and advanced up the hill towards the Manor. Even though I had a shotgun, Keith had been in SWAT for longer, and therefore almost always took point. I didn't mind, to be honest, point was more likely to get hit if we were ambushed.

We moved slowly, using the treeline to at least give us some degree of protection. Fortunately, our advance wasn't noticed. The tree cover and the relative darkness of Reach's early morning would have made our encroachment to the front door fairly hard to notice.

We formed up outside the main entrance to the house. It was fairly large. The oaken double doors seemed to tower over us as we lined up along the walls. Keith slid over to the front of the door. Rick tapped his shoulder. "Breach that door."

Keith nodded. "Breaching." He stuck a small charge on top of the small space in between the two doors, then stood back. There were 3 beeps before the charge detonated, blowing the door off it's hinges. Keith began to move in. Just as he stepped inside, someone inside fired several gunshots. One we saw one of them shoot through Keith's head. He fell, his body twitching.

Rick swore, taking a flash grenade from his vest and tossing it in. We heard yelling inside, then a boom. Rick motioned for me to move in. I obliged, pumping the rack of my shotgun and rounding the corner. I emptied a shell into a man right by the door. He literally flew back several feet and crashed into a coffee table. I heard more gunfire as the rest of the team filed in after me, cutting down the four remaining insurgents.

"Hallway clear." I said. Then I leaned over to Keith's motionless form to check his vital signs. There were none. I wasn't surprised, the round had passed through his head, but I swore anyways.

Rick frowned. "I hate it when this happens." He said. "Echo 3, you're on point now." I nodded in reply. Rick then motioned to a stairwell directly in front of us. "Echo seven through twelve, check upstairs."

Six men in the dark blue of swat moved up the stairs and disappeared. After several minutes of waiting, they came back down. "Nothing up there." one of them, a guy named Ethan, said.

"Alright."said Rick, "Keep moving."

We advanced down the hallway with absolutely no resistance. For someone who seemed this important, here wasn't a whole lot being done to make sure we didn't just stroll on down and snatch him up.

We searched all over, but only found empty rooms and hallways on the main level. We wasted a lot of flashbangs breaching rooms that yielded no results. Finally, we decided to check downstairs. There was only one door. Rick moved over to open it. It was locked, surprisingly. Almost all the doors in the house were open.

"This looks promising. Three, bust that door."

I nodded, raising my shotgun and sinking a shell into the metal lock. The entire handle crumpled like paper.

"Fire in the hole!" Rick kicked open the door and tossed in a flash grenade.

Right after I heard the muffled bang, I swung around and entered the room, keeping my weapon at eye level. The rest of the SWAT team stayed put. I quickly took in my surroundings. The concussive force had turned the room into a mess, with papers scattered everywhere. There was also what seemed to be a person tied to a chair.

I keyed my mic "I think we found him." I heard a chorus of things along the lines of "About fucking time" and "It WOULD be in the last god damn room."

The remaining squad mates entered the room as a well. Besides the hostage, there was no sign of anyone.

"Well that was fast. If this doesn't smell like a trap then I don't know what does." muttered Rick, "Who wants to check the package?"

When nobody volunteered, I raised my hand. "I got this sir."

Rick nodded, and everyone exited the room, taking cover outside the door. I didn't blame them. Better risk one then risk all, you know?

I walked over to the man. He was unresponsive to any forms of communications. I raised his head. I recognized the face from the image, however there was a problem. There was a huge gash across his throat. The blood had dried up into what looked like a waterfall down his neck.

I shuddered at the sight. "Shit... package is dead sir. Recommend..."

A beep interrupted me. I froze. Unexpected beeps, in this line of work, put people in body bags. I looked down to see a red light flashing through his shirt. My stomach sank. Fearing the worst, I ripped open the dead man's shirt.

There was a vest full of grenades and a detonator. And a timer. Did I mention fucking grenades?

I turned to run.

Rick must have noticed the beeping too, because I heard him yell. "Back! Get the fu-"

I heard a WHUMPH sound from behind me. The force of the explosion carried me across the room and slammed me into a desk. I was dimly aware of a pain in the back of my head as the world dissolved into black.


End file.
